A sorceress named Manah stood on a grassy ridge overlooking a distant castle, and in front of it a plain where two armies were locked in bitter conflict.
A whirlwind of knights, monsters, goblins, magicians, airships, and even a few dragons…
And there were familiar faces scattered in that nightmarish orgy of violent bloodshed and chaos.
"Nowe… Eris… Caim… Seere… Legna…" Manah muttered.
Then, abruptly, a light lit up over the battlefield… and it appeared.
A hulking, armored abomination with bright, multi-colored pink-yellow-black armor loomed over the battlefield, even if it was the sudden appearance that made it seem larger than it really was. It was vaguely humanoid, but barely so, and looked more akin to the mechanical mechs seen in old Earth films, or the metal Titans used by the Empire- and it could fly.
Wielding two strange, cross-shaped blades, and emitting a harsh shriek, it easily destroyed several airships, then carved a path of destruction across the battlefield, charging toward Manah…
Manah lifted her staff and blasted the construct with magic, but as it flew close to her, the enormous helmet-like structure where its… head should have been… turned into Nowe's gentle face.
"Nowe…" Manah whispered, hesitating.
And in that instant, the metallic monstrosity swung down one of the huge intricately-designed bladed weapons, crushing her instantly.
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April 1, 11,958 CE
Organization ? Base, Svalbard Islands, former Kingdom of Norway…
Organization Deputy Director Manah jerked awake at her desk.
"What the hell… was that?" The Templar panted. "Bloody dream…"
As she wiped exhaustion from her eyes, she noticed her eyes, she noticed her datapad was blinking. "Huh?"
She lifted it, only to see a half-dozen messages.
-Deputy Director we have a Code Red!
-Deputy Director, where are you?! Project No. i is going beserk!
-Manah!
-Code Red, Project i has broken containment!
-We have multiple casualties, sealing Sublevel Seven!
-Secondary containment failure, subject has breached Sublevel Zero!
"Project i?" Manah's eyes widened in shock. "The Director's new pet project! I have to…" She turned on the quantum entanglement communicator. "Damn it, still… I still can't raise the Director-!"
Manah grabbed her staff, raced out of her office, and dashed down the nearest emergency staircase down to Sublevel Seven.
When she reached there, a sight of devastation greeted her- equipment, furniture, and doors were ripped apart and knocked asunder through the corridors. Damaged and destroyed Androids and drones could be seen scattered about among the ruins. Parts of the walls had been gouged, revealing wiring and plumbing. Sparks flew from damaged wiring, water, and other fluids leaked onto the floor, and various gases leaked out of ruptured pipes.
'If I were still organic, I definitely wouldn't want to be here…' Manah thought as she watched a number of Androids struggling to contain leaks.
She walked up to a pair of Templar Paladins who were instructing the clean-up.
One of them spotted her instantly and said sardonically, "Well, well, look who decided to join the party late…"
Manah bristled at that. "You know I haven't slept in days-"
"Now, now, Furiae," A third Templar named Leah interjected. "Lay off her a little. More importantly, why did you allow the SAAs access to this sublevel and the project?"
"The Templar named Furiae threw up her hands. "At this point, there's no hiding it! It carved a damned path of destruction through the base! Several SAAs were destroyed before we could even warn them."
"More importantly," Manah asked, raising an eyebrow in trepidation. "Where is Project i?"
"It's gone," Leah replied for Furiae. "I just finished checking the video feeds, and I asked Nowe and Eris to sweep the base and surrounding area for any trace. So far it's been nothing- so far as we know, it's gone to another plane of existence."
"That's quite an Eldritch abomination you had locked up here, Emperor," Furiae commented.
"A what- what- now?" Leah frowned, puzzled.
"It's an old term used by the Humans of Earth. Look it up," Furiae explained, before turning back to Manah. "Whatever it is… it has reality-bending powers-"
"I know it's magic-" Manah crossed her arms impatiently.
"It's much more than magic," Furiae cut off. "Here, I'll get someone who can explain. She went over to one of the SAAs, a rather familiar fellow named Legasov. "Hey, tell her what you told me after analyzing its capabilities."
"Right…" Legasov walked over. "So Manah, what you've got here is a reality-bending Android. Its actions don't even fit the rules of magic as we understand them, nor the rules of physics. And they most definitely aren't Eezo properties either. It doesn't have a precise mass or volume. In fact, we can't even be sure it's an Android- it likely only appears as an Android to us, because we perceive it to be one."
"What…?" Manah blinked uncomprehendingly, having a hard time taking all this in. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that different Androids perceive it differently- see different things when they look at it. It changes the way you perceive its appearance and physical properties. Some of the Androids reported seeing a cloaked figure, others reported seeing an old comrade or friend, others reported a faceless figure-"
"Um, shape-shifting is rare, but not unheard of-"
"It's not shape-shifting," Furiae answered. "It looks different to two observers at the same time!"
"Often, it appears to look the way people want it to look, or expect it to look, or think it looks," Leah elaborated. "We speculate it feeds off the thoughts, emotions, memories, and powers of people around it. We don't know if it's doing so intentionally or if it's a natural part of its existence. We don't even know if it has intent, or the capability to express intent. It truly… defies understanding."
"In the few days we had it in custody, we certainly weren't able to communicate with it," Furiae added.
"What about the camera footage?" Manah asked frantically.
"It appears somewhat differently in the footage depending on circumstance- sometimes appearing as a cloaked figure, a blurry image, or not appearing at all. And sometimes it appears as whatever we perceive it to be. The entity appears to be in a state of fluctuation."
"Or an active camouflage system…" Legasov murmured in speculation.
"I saw it after it went berserk- looked to me like it had transformed into some sort of armored Titan or mech thing. I tried blasting it with magic, but it was ineffective, and it got away," Furiae looked at Manah accusingly. "That's quite a monstrous specimen you've brought on this base."
"That's not mine!" Manah protested. "It's the Director's new project! And you said it looked like an armored Titan…?"
"It doesn't matter now," Leah dismissed hastily. "We can't even locate it now."
"I haven't been able to raise the Director either… what a mess." Manah ran a hand through her hair. "Perhaps only the gods know…"
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On a beach, location unknown, time unknown...
A shadowy, cloaked figure walked along a beach, reading a datapad when he spotted something interesting lying on the beach.
It lay, almost completely obscured, under a mass of driftwood and seaweed. He walked over and dug-up the partially-buried, prone figure, freeing it from the debris covering it.
It wore a cloak very similar to that of the figure which found it… but it was a faceless, white figure, little different from a mannequin in the discoverer's eyes.
"Ah, this- this will be very interesting indeed…" He mused.
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April Fool-
Okay, no, you won't buy it this time, I know.
This one's actually canon too. Or is it? You never know with these reality benders. XD
Anyway, appendical information time:
-Eris (Agent P-E)- Templar Paladin for Organization ? (Not to be confused with High Pontiff Eris of the Church of Humanity, they are completely different and unrelated Androids!)
-Furiae (Agent P-F)- Templar Paladin for Organization ?
-Leah (Agent P-L)- Templar Paladin for Organization ?
-Nowe (Agent P-N)- Templar Paladin for Organization ?
-Project No. i- Mysterious Android? of unknown origin with reality-bending abilities
